Bloated Albino African Clawed Frog

[Jenste]

If her bloat is only recent then I suspect it is the cause of her environment. Is it a hard bloat where she is looks like a balloon filling with air and is stuck floating at the surface or a soft bloat where her body wiggles around like a giant water balloon and she can maintain her balance and rest on the bottom of the tank? Hard bloat is fatal, soft bloat can be treated to a manageable level.

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[rodsboys]

I am going to throw my anti-bloodworm rant in here too. I am sure a lot, if not most people will disagree but... I have never heard of a frog getting bloat that has never been fed bloodworms. And every frog that someone says has bloat has been fed bloodworms at some time or other. This includes some dwarf frogs of my own years ago. I never fed bloodworms and decided to add them to my rotation. Within weeks of adding them to the rotation 3 of my 5 frogs developed bloat. I have read mixed reports of bloodworms supposedly harboring a bacteria and have also heard speculations that the barbs/hooks on the worms' mouth my be the culprit. I don't know for sure or if I am just paranoid, but my stance is no bloodworms of any kind ever.
You should also insure that any frozen food you feed is completely thawed before feeding. I usually thaw mine in a small bowl with some tank water.

[Jace]

Tater is always on the bottom of the tank; the bloat has never caused her to float to the top and be unable to get back down. Is that what you mean by soft bloat? I will definitely monitor her to see any changes in her ability to move around.

I have heard of the bloodworm thing before. I have to admit, my African Clawed frogs from years ago were given a heavy diet of bloodworms. Though it took a few years, one by one, they slowly became bloated and passed on. I was told then it was diet related. However, I have hit every single other petstore in my area and cannot find a pelleted food specifically for frogs. I do have at my store, however, a predatory sinking pellet that is made from fish meal, krill, shrimp meal etc. Would this be an adequate substitute for her? Would it hurt her to try it? What about smaller feeder fish, such as guppies and white clouds? She is not big enough to handle the earthworms I can get for my bullfrogs, and I want to offer her a wide variety as I can to ensure she either improves or at least remains the same with no ill side effects. I wasn't expecting to grow as fond of her as I have and I want to see her thrive. Thanks again!

[Jenste]

Look in the reptile section and look for Reptomin, HBH frog and tadpole bites, or Zoomed frog bites. You can also try cutting up the earth worms.

Do not feed any type of feeder fish - they are not nutritionally balanced and the risk of disease is so great combined with lack of nutrition makes it just entirely not worth it.

Again, does her skin look like it is inflating with air and is hard or does it wiggle and jiggle around like a water balloon?

You are going to have to start doing salt baths to help relieve the pressure in her body.
Use a separate container, not her tank. Tupperware works great for this.
Use the portion of 1 teaspoon of Epsom Salt to every gallon of water that is in your bath container. Temp match it to her tank. Let her sit in here for one hour once the salt is dissolved. Then return her to her tank and discard all the bath water. You want to do this once a day. It is usually for a few weeks until the bloating starts dissipating. If hard bloat, the bloat won't dissipate and you are just trying to keep your frog comfortable until it passes, but with soft bloat it will reduce the amount of bloating for a while, but soft bloat usually stays with your frog for life and will be a routine of salt baths every couple of months to keep them comfortable.

[Jace]

I will have to watch her for a bit and see if she is jiggly or not. And I will try and take some decent pictures and post them. I will definitely try the salt baths tho, and see if that helps her or not. Will she begin to grow at all, or is she going to stay stunted and small?

[rodsboys]

I would think if stunted the frog will still grow, but very slowly and never reach it's potential.

[Jace]

Hmmm...well that was not the answer I was hoping for, but truthful nonetheless. I have not had a chance to do the salt baths yet, but the bloating has gone down. I did remove bloodworms from her diet and am feeding her frozen brine shrimp and cut up earth worms (gross I might add) as the main staple. Hopefully this proper protein will allow her to start growing some. Still trying to get decent pictures of her.